SMU 42, TCU 34

Max Duggan is limited as a quarterback. You aren’t going to have guys more wide open than they were in the second half against SMU, but time and time again TCU’s quarterback missed the throws. Sure, some of the blame falls on the wide receivers (at least the drop in the end zone by Savion Williams), but at the end of the day, does anyone trust Duggan to consistently make defenses pay over the top?

Texas 70, Texas Tech 35

Texas got blasted in Fayetteville, and there’s several things that went into that. But otherwise, the Longhorns have looked really good in their three other contests. The offensive line has looked improved since then, the quarterback position is resolved, the offense as a unit is on fire, and aside from the noted need to address some struggles in the secondary, the defense is swarming. It felt like the sky might have been falling that night in Fayetteville, but outside of that, Texas has absolutely looked like a team that’s going to be a factor in the Big 12 title race. We’ll know just how much of a factor they’ll be in the next two weeks.

In the biggest game of the season, Tech had a chance to validate its undefeated record and earn a win that would’ve been that much more special over the SEC-bound Longhorns, but that opportunity dissolved before Tech’s eyes by the end of the first quarter.

Texas amassed - or, rather, Texas Tech allowed 639 yards of total offense, including an embarrassing 336 yards on the ground. And let me just say, any Power-5 program that surrenders 336 rushing yards should consider dropping down to the FCS. That was historically bad.

Oklahoma State 31, #25 Kansas State 20

With questions surrounding Mike Gundy, Kasey Dunn and the Cowboy offense after the past three games, the Cowboys started the first half off with a bang. Scoring 24 of the Cowboys 31 points in the game. (Malcolm Rodriguez recovered a fumble in the end zone for the other touchdown.) The Cowboys did not score in the second half for the second straight week but still covered against the Wildcats from Little Manhattan, 31-20. Spencer Sanders played his best game of the year thus far. Throwing 34 times and completing 22 passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns. Additionally, Sanders ran for one touchdown to go with 18 rushing yards.

Another problem which is directly attributable to either the receivers themselves or their coaching is the pressure the quarterbacks endured tonight. The basic problem is that they can’t get open consistently, which in turn forces the quarterbacks to either scramble interminably or throw into terrible coverage.

We can complain about the quarterback all day long, and argue about who it should be. But none of it matters if he can’t count on his receivers, and K-State’s have been terrible all season.

Duke 52, Kansas 33

For those that only saw the final score and weren’t able to watch the game (thanks, ACC Network), the 19-point Duke win didn’t tell the whole story.

In fact, the first half was pretty fun, with Kansas putting up 24 points and taking a three-point lead into halftime. Torry Locklin had two touchdowns in the half – a 20-yard touchdown catch followed by a 36-yard rushing TD just six game minutes later – and the defense took advantage of early Duke turnovers.

Baylor 31, #14 Iowa State 29

What would Cyclone football be without the game before us going long. Wisconsin and Notre Dame say “hold my beer!” as they are taking years in their punting contest or whatever the hell is going on at the house that Mitch Trubisky built (yeah, I went there). That game isn’t close to being done so let’s go to FS2! There is f****** horse racing on. What is this.

Baylor in that gold awful gold, ISU in the cardinal-white-white combo. Iowa State starts with the ball from their own 25 yard line. Xavier Hutchinson and Breece Hall get the Cyclones rolling early, picking up 41 yards right away to get into Baylor territory within the first minute and a half. The drive would stay alive after a key Breece Hall first down run on 4th down. A pass to Kolar a few plays later has Iowa State on the Baylor two. Breece up the middle, touchdown! That breaks the Big 12 record for consecutive games with a rushing touchdowns at 16, passing Mizzou QB Corby Jones.

Apparently unaware Trestan Ebner can still return punts and kicks, Iowa State (2-2, 0-1) learned that he’s real and spectacular as Baylor (4-0, 2-0) won 31-29.

Baylor scored 10 points in the second half. All were due to Ebner. He ran a kickoff back to give Baylor a 28-16 lead. After Iowa State made it 28-23 on the strength of Breece Hall’s big day (27 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns), the Cyclones elected to punt to Ebner. He returned it to the Iowa State 20. The Bears couldn’t move the ball, but they kicked a field goal to make it 31-23.

Power Rankings

Reminder - power rankings are fluid and based off of numerous factors, one of which is how much I’ve drank before I put these together. Don’t take them too seriously.

1. Baylor (LW: 6) 4-0. A win over a ranked team. Can Baylor stop being good?
2. Texas (LW: 7) 3-1, absolutely trounced Texas Tech. Poor Tech.
3. Oklahoma State (LW: 3). Pretty solid win over K-State, who was “ranked”.
4. Oklahoma (LW: 1) It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t fun. The home crowd chanted for the backup. Rattler led a game-winning drive.
5. West Virginia (LW: 2) Should have won this game. The offense is abysmal.
6. Iowa State (LW: 4) Are you blaming your faults on those awful Baylor highlighter uniforms? Those are awful.
7. Kansas State (LW: 5) Tough day for the former SnyderCats.
8. TCU (LW: 8) E-E-K. Losing to your rival and losing a trophy. That sucks, man.
9. Texas Tech (LW: 9) Are you ok? Do you need a band-aid?
10. Kansas (LW: 10) Only 4 more football games until basketball season starts.

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Future Conference Rivals Scores

#8 Cincinnati - BYE

Cincinnati is staring down a top-ten showdown with Notre Dame in South Bend next week. Big week for the Bearcats.

Houston 28, Navy 20

Ta’Zhawn Henry ran for a pair of second-half touchdowns to lead Houston over Navy 28-20 on Saturday night in an American Athletic Conference opener.

UCF - Bye

The Knights were off this week and have Navy in Annapolis upcoming.

#15 BYU 35, USF 27

Baylor Romney threw for 305 yards and 3 touchdowns while Tyler Allgeier ran for 86 yards on 15 carries and scored two touchdowns as BYU hung on to beat South Florida 35-27.